Dogmatism, Data, and Public Health
A look back on the 2003 BMJ controversy over passive smoking and mortality.
Geoffrey C. Kabat
· 20 min read
Health
A collection of 168 posts
Ending the Hunger Games
New pharmaceuticals appear to offer a genuine solution to the problem of excess appetite, that uncontrollable urge to eat more than we need to that keeps so many of us fat.
Iona Italia
· 25 min read
Unconscious Bias in Medicine: A Canard
Evidence that clinical decisions are driven by unconscious bias remains conspicuously lacking.
Stewart Justman
· 8 min read
Medications Can Help Keep Alcoholics Sober. Why Are They Being Ignored?
Affordable, safe, generic anticonvulsants restore homeostasis to the brains of chronic drinkers, but they are not being promoted.
Frank Celia
· 6 min read
Faith Goes to Switzerland
When should we allow a person to hasten her own death?
Brent M. Kious, Margaret Pabst Battin
· 25 min read
Neuroaffirmation—A Therapist’s Concerns
I worry about the unintended consequences of the neurodiversity movement, particularly when their demands are promulgated religiously and without nuance.
Rita Range
· 10 min read
The Limits of Self Love
Scholars and activists in the field of fat studies do not believe that there is an obesity-related health crisis at all.
Jack Butler
· 12 min read
Four Corners' Failure
In its treatment of gender clinics, the flagship investigative program of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation failed to present crucial evidence.
Bernard Lane
· 11 min read
Heavy Lifting
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela’s ‘Fit Nation’ offers a fascinating but frustratingly selective history of America’s physical fitness obsession.
Joe Lombardo
· 10 min read
Death on Demand: Cautionary Tales from Canada
Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying program, once reserved for the terminally ill, is increasingly attracting applicants experiencing poverty and depression.
Margaret Wente
· 15 min read
The Educational Ship Comes to a Shuddering Halt
School closings put strain on families and students alike.
Jenny Griebenow
· 11 min read
More Than Just a Social Construct
The fiction that race has no biological basis is more likely to exacerbate health disparities than narrow them.
Robert J. Morris
· 9 min read
The Months the Earth Stood Still
Did humanity defeat a potentially devastating plague with relatively modest losses, or did the greater devastation come from the victory itself?
George Case
· 9 min read
Disease and Deception
The rise of Munchausen by Internet syndrome is inseparable from the spread of online subcultures that valorize disability.
Lucy Kross Wallace
· 12 min read
Spinning the Tavistock Story
Activists are twisting the closure of Tavistock as a win for gender ideology.
Bernard Lane
· 13 min read